Scooting on my side, I hear the voices more plainly now that I’m closer to the door. They’re speaking in the same language I’ve heard everyone, apart from the two men on the plane, speak. Gibberish, gibberish, “silencer”, more gibberish, “Post Man”.
“Mmff.” The elation has worn off, and the pain is back. If they walk in here now and see me like this, they’ll search me.Be smart. Stay alive.
Moving my bound hands back behind my body seems almost impossible, but I do it. The pain in my ribs is back full force, and the stars are back to dance in my vision just as the door opens, barely missing my knees.
Two men step into the tiny, cramped space. The smell of stale cigarettes and cheap cologne assaults my senses and turns my stomach.
“Luk, zelta bilete.”
They know I don’t understand a damn thing they say, but they continue to talk to me. It must give them some sort of thrill to talk down to me, so they can’t stop themselves.
Both men wear devious grins as they look down at me.
“Nevaru sagaidit, kad varešu nogaršot šo.”
“Breathe all you can now, boys. When my husband gets here, he’ll put a stop to that shit.” I’m fully aware they can’t understand me, but I’m confident that I’ve laced my words with enough venom that it’ll help them understand the sentiment.
The taller man bends over, scooping me into his arms, positioning my body so that he can throw me over his shoulder, but the pain is too much. “Agh!” It radiates out from my hip, but also all across my midsection, and before I can even process the pressure in my head, the stars take over until....there’s nothing.
Chapter 40
Elijah
Cotton hadn’t exaggerated even a little bit.He’s good. Maybe the best I’ve ever seen.We’ve spent the last three hours combing through all the evidence Cal has found.
Grizzly was taken by a small team of men.This was always a given.There’ no way one or two guys could ever get the drop on Grizzly. We still don’t know how his car came to be sitting on the side of the road. There were no obvious signs of foul play, but that could be for a number of reasons.
Grizzly would’ve stopped to help anyone. That’s just who he is. The ruse could’ve been as simple as a flat tire. Once he was pulled over, they could’ve pulled a gun, or hell, even spoken his home address aloud. He’d risk his life in a heartbeat over Johna and his girls.
We know there were four guys who came for Grizzly because Cotton hacked their whole damn system. We know exactly how many men are here, when they got here, and a fair bit about the company’s overall financial situation.Way more information than I imagined we’d get. He’s incredible.
Two weeks ago, they received their biggest payment to date on a single transaction. One person for thirty million dollars. Seeing that put some things into perspective.This is why they’ve concentrated their efforts on me. They’ve already sold me.It never occurred to me that’s what they could want. Now that it has, it makes perfect sense. I’ve made plenty of enemies in my years with the Navy. There’s no shortage of wealthy criminals with more money than sense who’d like to put one between my eyes. More than that, even. I’ve left messages all over the world. Whenever possible, I made sure the pieces of human waste I’ve dispatched had time to beg and regret the direction they took their lives in.Whoever they left behind would surely to return that favor to me.
Clicking. Murmuring.There’s commotion and talking all around me. Cal is still typing and clicking away while Jax hovers over his shoulder, making note of each new detail. Eve and Marshall are going over the financials. Cotton is on the phone, just as he has been on and throughout the time since I got here.My people. My unlikely team.
Whatever happens to me doesn’t matter. As long as Vaughn is safe, this will all be worth it.
We also know that six men came for Vaughn. It was actually Winston who came back with that bit of information, though. He had six witness accounts and video surveillance from three different shops.No idea how he spoke to so many people so quickly. He even had the video ready to send to me. He knew when and where their plane landed and even when it left. They got Vaughn and left immediately. They spent such a short time in Barbados, I’m surprised at the amount of information Winston was able to get.
As for Cal, he found so much more. The video surveillance from Abbi and my mom’s houses was erased using their passwords. This means that either they tortured Mom and Abbi into giving up the passwords, or mom and Abbi freely offered them.The latter is possible.Mom and Abbi both would’ve done anything to keep little Abel safe.
It just doesn’t feel right, though. Why would they want to disguise the fact that they took them?They left a message with John’s wife to make sure I know it’s them. To add to this uneasy feeling, a neighbor’s Ring camera caught Abbi’s car leaving from her garage in the middle of the night. It was too dark to see inside the vehicle, but she left the night after Vaughn and I left for Barbados. Before Vaughn or Grizzly either one were taken. Thanks to Cal and Winston, we know that Vaughn and Grizzly were taken within minutes of each other. The attempted abduction of Eve was also at the same time.What does it all mean?
Why would they coordinate those three attacks to line up and not the previous two abductions? It’s smarter to take them all at the same time. That way no one can alert anyone else to be on guard.
We’re still missing something very important, and going in with a blind spot could get someone hurt.Could get someone killed.Unfortunately,there’s no time.There never was. Cal found a connection to the Latvians here in Texas. Days ago, they wired money to an oil magnate who owns an industrial park with several large warehouses on it in San Antonio.This is it. This is where they’ll take my wife. She’s the bait. I’m the target.
They’ve made no attempt to reach out to me since they took everyone, but we know tonight is the night, thanks to Cal’s intel. He even came through with names. We know who the four new leaders are. We also know that only two of them are here, Juris Vasiljevs and Aleksandrs Ozols. Peteris Ozols and Arturs Kaninš remained in Latvia.Cal is a marvel.It truly seems that nothing is out of his reach, and the speed at which he finds information is nothing short of remarkable.
“I can get people and guns here within the next couple of days. They could also kill my family in that time. None of you are obligated to help. This is my problem, and I’m going to fix it one way or the other.”
“Are you talking to them? Or all of us? Pretty fucking insulting if you’re including us in the ‘not obligated’ speech.” Jax motions between himself and Marshall when he asks if I’m including them.
“Thank you.” Truly, I expected they would come with me, but hearing that it’s a foregone conclusion in their minds eases something in my chest.
“Come on, BB. You can’t mean the rest of us either. It’s my family they’ve got too. Besides, it’ll be fun to see the Tweedle Twins in action. I’ve heard good things.”
Jax and Marshall look back at Eve while waving finger guns before blowing the non-existent smoke from the barrels.
